


Choking

by emetoandotherthings



Category: Original Work
Genre: Bonfire Night, Choking, Gen, Toffee apple, Vomiting, emeto, emeto fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-07-08
Packaged: 2020-06-24 20:11:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19730935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emetoandotherthings/pseuds/emetoandotherthings
Summary: Prompt: Someone choking really badly on their toffee apple on Bonfire Night (Because they're basically just Snow White)Warning: Includes vomiting





	Choking

“Ten minutes till the most fantastic firework display you will ever see in your life!!” The crowd whooped all around as the voice announced over the loudspeakers. The night was mild for early November and the bustle of the people created an excited atmosphere. 

“Where’s Eppie?” Eden asked anxiously, looking around at the people huddled in groups. There must be a good seven or eight thousand people packed into the park – maybe more than that – and the thought of Eppie being lost made Eden’s chest begin to tighten. 

“Don’t worry,” Eden felt Jude’s gloved hand touch his shoulder, “I think she went to get food, we’ll stay here until she comes back.”

“More food?” Leyton interrupted from just behind them; Alba was wrapped around him, the beam on her face seemed to bring an air of happiness to them all. “Honestly I don’t know where that girl puts it all!” That was a polite way to put it – they’d been at the park for just over an hour and they’d already had hot dogs, waffles, churros and candy floss. Eppie seemed to be a bottomless pit; Eden was already more than full, and the prospect of more food wasn’t altogether inviting. 

“Well she better hurry up or she’ll miss the fireworks!” Eden commented, but just as he did so Eppie’s voice rang out from behind them. 

“Toffee apples!” The gang turned round to see Eppie holding up five toffee apples in her hands, a massive grin on her face. 

“We were just wondering where you’d gone!” Eden said, accepting the toffee apple that she was holding out to him. 

“I saw toffee apples and I couldn’t resist,” she explained, handing out the others to Leyton, Alba and Jude. “We used to have them every year on Bonfire Night at home.” 

“We?” Jude asked, Eppie rarely said anything about her family, and Eden knew she didn’t have a good relationship with any of them.

“My brother…” In the dim light Eden could see the look of sadness pass across her face as she stared down at the toffee apple. 

“Perhaps that’s a tradition we could do…” Eden nudged her, “If you’d like.” He took a bite of the apple he was holding, the cloying sweetness of the toffee juxtaposing with the refreshing juice of the apple. 

“Yeah, that’d be great!” She agreed, a smile returning to her face.

“Are you ready?” The voice over the speakers recalled their attention to the imminence of the fireworks.

“Come on!” Alba called, “Let’s get closer in.” There was a surge forward by all the people towards the grass to get a better view of the fireworks. They stopped in a kind of squiggly line among the crowd; Eden had Jude to one side of him and Eppie to the other. There were a few moments where the crowd seemed to hold its breath in anticipation until the voice over the speaker began a countdown which the crowd joined in with. Eden’s mouth was full of toffee apple, but he could hear Jude joining in enthusiastically. As they reached one their was the tell-tale whistle of rockets firing up into the air before exploding into a myriad of red and gold sparks, and so began the ooh-ing and aah-ing of the crowd. 

Eden absent mindedly ate his toffee apple while watching the swirls and bursts of colours in the dark sky, the chill of the air beginning to nip at the end of his nose. To the side of him he heard Jude cough slightly, muffled underneath the sounds of the music and fireworks. But what began as a gentle clearing of his throat suddenly became louder and much more hacking. 

Eden turned to look at Jude as the toffee apple he’d been eating fell from his hand to the ground and his hands went up to clutch at his throat, shoulders jerking as he continued to cough.

“Did it go down the wrong way?” Eden asked, putting his hand to Jude’s shoulder. “Jude?” Among the noise and close proximity of people around them, Eden had to raise his voice to be heard; but Jude was shaking his head, pounding the top of his own chest with one of his hands. It looked like he was struggling to clear his throat. Using the base of his hand Eden patted Jude’s back lightly, but he realised that wasn’t helping any. “Are you choking?” Eden was close into Jude, trying to make himself heard and Jude nodded vehemently. Eden hit Jude’s back harder, Jude still attempting to cough whatever it was up. 

“What’s going on?” Eppie was at Eden’s side as he thumped Jude’s back harder.

“He’s choking,” Eden replied, Jude’s eyes were wide and terrified. “This isn’t working!” Eden was beginning to feel frantic, his heart rate was speeding up, whatever it was that was obstructing Jude’s airway, it wasn’t going to be dislodged easily. 

“Let me try…” Eppie slipped behind Jude, her arms wrapping round his midriff and pulled her hands into his abdomen. Eden had taken his hand away as Eppie tried this; people around them were beginning to move, realising that there was something going on. Leyton and Alba were at Jude’s other side looking just as worried as Eden felt. Eden’s heart felt like it was pounding in his own throat but what Eppie was trying didn’t seem to be working either.   
One of his hands left his throat, reaching out to grab Eden; in the darkness Jude’s pale face shone out like a beacon. His wrenching grip was painful and as Eden looked into his best friend’s face, Jude’s eyes rolled backwards and he dropped like a stone to the ground. 

“Jude!” Chaos erupted around as Jude, Eden flung himself onto his knees but he couldn’t quite tell whether Jude was breathing or not. 

“We need to move him!” Eppie was calling quickly. “We need to get help!”  
Something kicked in within Eden, he was hooking his arms underneath Jude’s armpits, bellowing out at Leyton: “Leyton! Get his legs! _Get his fucking legs!_ ” Leyton did as he was told, the two of them lifting Jude quickly. 

“ _Move_!” Eden could tell the serious call of a trainee teacher when he heard it and, despite being small, Alba was parting the crowd with ease so Eden and Leyton could carry him out. All around people were gawking but Eden couldn’t let it bother him; they reached an area where the crowd thinned at the stone path and laid Jude down under a street light. He was still unconscious and Eden couldn’t tell whether he was imagining the blue tinge to Jude’s lips, but he was acting anywhere. 

“I’ll get help!’ Eppie said, sprinting off in the direction of a large marquee where there were toilets and a first aid station. Eden was on his knees next to Jude, desperately trying to recall his first aid training from Scouts. He bent down close, trying to hear whether Jude was breathing, but over the sounds of the fireworks there was no way he’d be able to hear anything; but he couldn’t feel breath on his cheek as he tried to listen, and he couldn’t see his chest rising or falling. Eden pinched Jude’s nose, pulling his head back, then took a deep breath, and covering Jude’s mouth with his own, blew hard. He couldn’t tell whether the buzzing around him was because what he was doing, or just at the fireworks. He took another deep breath and blew again. 

“Oh god please don’t let me break his ribs…” Eden mumbled, panicked, as he interlinked his hand and tried to locate the bottom of Jude’s ribs, then pushed down hard. Pressing against the firmness of a real body, rather than a CPR dummy, turned Eden’s stomach and he took a great gulp of air. Now really wasn’t the time to vomit – he had to help Jude. 

But as he pressed down for a fourth time he heard a harsh ‘ _tssssssuk_ ’ sound that was a godsend to Eden. A gurgling sound broke free from Jude’s throat, his back arched and he coughed. From above he heard Alba shriek:“Oh my god!” 

“Help me get him on his side!” Eden commanded, trying to push Jude over as he coughed harder, and he was joined by Leyton and Alba to roll him over onto his side. Jude’s body convulsed and suddenly he was vomiting, Eden acted quickly to support his head, making sure he wouldn’t choke again. “Thank god…”

“Is that a good thing?” Alba asked, looking worriedly at Jude, who was barely conscious but still retching. 

“It means he’s breathing!” Eden felt relieved, “And whatever he was choking on is out…” Tears had sprung to Eden’s eyes, suddenly he felt very cold, and was trembling all over. As if on cue, Jude let out a low moan, his eyes flickering then opening. “Stay still Jude.” Eden put his hand on Jude’s shoulder just as Eppie came sprinting back with two paramedics in two, both wearing hi-vis vests. 

“Alright, what’s happening?” One of them asked, bending down next to Jude.

“Jude was choking, and he passed out – but Eden started doing that breathing… CPR thing? And he puked and started breathing again.” Alba was the one who managed to reel this out; Eden was still kneeling next to Jude, but his head was spinning and he felt himself shivering. 

“Jude, can you tell me what happened?” The paramedic addressed Jude, helping him into a sitting position after being satisfied at a quick check over. 

“I-” Jude started, his voice hoarse so he cleared his throat. “I remember choking… then coming to here…” 

“I think we’ll take you across to the tent and check you over,” the paramedic said, “we can figure out what after that – do you think you’ll be able to walk?”

“Yeah,” Jude nodded, accepting the hand of the paramedic to help him get to his feet. The other paramedic had bent down next to Eden. 

“Are you Eden?” He asked, Eden’s voice felt like it’d dried up in his throat so he nodded instead. “You’ve done a great job helping your friend, see?” Jude was on his feet now, and that’s when the tight feeling in Eden’s chest seemed to burst. Tears filled his eyes and poured down his face, his breath hitched in his chest and he felt very sick. “You’re okay…” Firm hands were on his shoulders, helping him to his feet. “You’ve had a shock, but it’s fine now. Let’s go across to the tent and get you some sweet tea.” Eden allowed himself to be steered behind Jude over to the first aid tent, where he was made to sit down and a cup of hot sweet tea placed into his hands. 

But he didn’t care about the tea – his eyes were fixed on Jude as they made him lie down and be checked over. Eden’s heart only began to calm down when he heard them declare Jude as alright, but they’d like him to go to the hospital just to make absolutely sure. 

Maybe they’d have to rethink the toffee apple tradition… 


End file.
